Sunday Music: Appalachian Melody

It's the beginning of autumn here in the United States, and it looks like someone posted one of Mark Heard's early songs on YouTube. Enjoy.

Appalachian Melody

Earth Day Sunday Music: John Denver

Even though Earth Day 2008 is still more than a week away (technically it is April 22, 2008), I wanted to get a jump on a post about it. There are many events planned around the world next weekend. The zoo in Houston, Texas will be holding an event this coming Saturday, April 19. Anyway, last year, when I was searching for a song that had an environmental theme to it, Charles Hugh Smith of Of Two Minds blog suggested Big Yellow Taxi originally done by Joan Baez.

Later I realized some of the songs sang by the late John Denver also had environmental themes. John Denver in many ways epitomized the cognitive dissonance we all exude in our ideals. While he championed protection of the environment, he had a hobby of flying airplanes, which leave a pretty large carbon fingerprint for a hobby. I also heard that he pushed for the construction of an airport near his home over the objection of many of his neighbors. Even so, the music he left is loved by millions and expresses the ideals of conservationists.

Rocky Mountain High


And in the following video, Denver talks about the development of the song Calypso, which is based on a trip he took with Jacques Cousteau (it includes the video for the song).

Calypso

Sunday Music: Major Tom

There are a few reasons why this video seems appropos right now:

1. I recently visited the Houston Space Center. I'll get around to posting the pics eventually. I promise.

2. Hellasious yesterday wrote a post on his blog, Sudden Debt, called "Space Oddity" where he referred to David Bowie's Major Tom lyrics. Why am I not using David Bowie's song, then? Because I like this song more.

3. There are some reports of a bus-sized satellite hurtling toward earth that will hit sometime in early March. They don't know where it will hit yet. Or they are not telling us so that we won't panic. How big was the meteor that killed the dinosaurs again?

Peter Schilling - Major Tom

Sunday Music: Play the Game Tonight

In this Kansas video, a chess game between white and dark-hooded creatures seemingly representing the forces of Life and Death (playing the white and black chess pieces accordingly) is the backdrop to this rock hit video.

Kansas -- Play the Game Tonight

Sunday Music: 21st Century Christmas

The Christian pop singer Cliff Richard (also known as the "Elvis of Great Britain") came out with a new Christmas song last year. I hope you like it.

I am back home in Oklahoma for the Christmas weekend and I stayed in my home that I am selling for the last time last night (with no heat except for the fireplace as the pilot light went out on the central heating and air while I was gone -- brrr!).



Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Sunday Music: My Grown Up Christmas List

My Grown Up Christmas List

eMusic Spotlights Mark Heard

Taken from Mark Heard: Orphan of God:

Mark Heard: Orphan of God

by Michael James McGonigal

When one of my editors asked me to write a column on the talented singer, producer and songwriter Mark Heard, I was elated to learn that so much of his discography had recently been added to eMusic’s catalogue. Frequently compared to the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Heard’s stature has increased steadily since he passed away from heart complications fifteen years ago.

Bruce Cockburn called Heard “America’s best songwriter,” while the alternative adult contemporary music magazine Paste argued in a lengthy 2003 feature that “no artist has crafted three consecutive albums with both the lyrical radiance and the musical vibrancy to rival Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand and Satellite Sky.” I wouldn't go quite that far myself, but those three records really are exceptional — poetic, slice-of-life stuff by any standard. Heard is an original, an iconoclastic figure who presaged the work of artists like Chris Rice and Jeremy Enigk. In a two-sentence biography on All Music Guide he is casually called “brilliant.” Heard’s 1982 long-player Victims of the Age album was ranked in the top third of CCM magazine’s list of the all-time greatest Christian albums. And yet Mark Heard remains something of a cult figure.

Heard came of age in contemporary Christian music’s infancy — the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. CCM had yet to become a multi-million dollar industry, and in many ways was still a holdover from the so-called Jesus Rock movement of the ‘60s. Rear-guard CCM artists often questioned the nature of faith, but newer singers like Amy Grant had begun to proffer a simpler, more saccharine approach to mixing faith and music. Heard must have known that, in this context, his work had power and deserved to be heard by as wide an audience as possible — certainly by as many people who purchased Bob Dylan’s 1980 album Saved. “I'm not looking for votes, and my music isn't only for Christians,” Heard told New Christian Music in 1984.

The fact that Heard had songs with titles like “Everybody Loves a Holy War” might clue you in to his approach. In a series of amazing advertisements for his 1979 album Appalachian Melody, Heard wrote that “most Christians would say that the music should in some way glorify God… [however] one assortment of notes on the scale can't glorify God more than another. Neither can certain assortments of words... If you are an up and coming Christian singer and you have to sing for a Christian audience, you'd better throw as many words like "saved" or "hallelujah" or "sweet Jesus" as you can, otherwise your spirituality will be discussed behind your back. But anybody can [simply] say the words. Like Groucho says, 'Say the secret woid, the duck comes down, you win a hunnid dollas.'”

Heard’s early work is in the folky vein; he was often compared to James Taylor, and not always favorably. In his later recordings, he veers towards flat-out rock in a country-tinged Tom Petty-ish style that also encompassed Appalachian folk, Tex Mex and zydeco on that great Dry-Hand-Sky trilogy. Even his best albums feature the gated drum sound, reverb-saturated vocals, U2-ish guitar leads and other elements of mainstream ‘80s rock production. His voice is strong, though, especially on his sadder ballads. But what really propels his work is his way with words. Take “Fire” from Dry Bones Dance: “Oh, to find love's hiding place/ We are beggars and bootleggers/ Fading embers caught out in the rain/ Wondering what's it take to burst into flames/ And meanwhile hammers fall on anvils of grief/ Molten souls in madmen's cauldrons.”

Heard was struck down during his creative peak, and his spirit and wit are as much missing from contemporary Christian music as his exceptional songcraft. In that series of ads for Appalachian Melody, Heard said he liked “to write songs about things which cause me to glimpse the worth of God. Sometimes that might be the ocean, sometimes it is love for my wife, sometimes it can be absurdly simple things… We shouldn't search for a spiritually symbolic rationalization for [every] activity we enter into. It is not evil to enjoy a good laugh or a hike in the Sierras for what they are.” Having suffered the banalities of one too many well meaning but excruciatingly boring CCM acts (not to mention anemic praise and worship performances), these words still ring loud and true for me, nearly thirty years after the fact.

I am going to add a few words to the bolded quotes above. I have had (and even still have) the same complaint about Christian music played on the radio. Almost all of it comes down to variations of: "Jesus loves me this I know; for the Bible tells me so." Before getting an e-mail notifying me of this review of Mark Heard's work, I had been thinking about this very issue this week and had been thinking about writing about it anyway.

I realize there is a time and place for simplistic Christian songs; and America is increasingly moving toward a business model of exploiting niche markets (of which Christian music is one). There was a time when a Christian artist couldn't make a decent living producing strictly Christian music. But, on the other hand, the drive for a Christian artist to become monetarily successful requires that they conform to certain social norms within that Christian audience they are trying to convince to buy their music. That means -- all too often -- that they must water down any lyrics that might challenge the Christian audience of long-held orthodoxies. True artists move society forward by challenging their prejudices. Religions, by nature, are conservative -- or even reactionary -- forces on society. Contrarily, art almost always is a progressive force that changes and shapes perceptions toward societal evolution by showing injustices because of conservative ideas.

Back when I was in high school, there were Christian musicians like Randy Stonehill who challenged us about being susceptible to the American culture with its fixation on Fast Food and cosmetic appearances. Where are all the Christian artists today that challenge us to move toward changing our culture? Almost all of them are giving us the message to conform to the culture around us (at least the dominant Christian culture with all of its trappings combined with economic orthodoxies). Sometimes I wonder how Jesus himself would react to a McDonald's inside of a church? (Thoughts of Jesus whipping the moneychangers come to mind.)

(By the way, I would like to point out that the one time I got to see Mark Heard perform live, it was as an opening act for Randy Stonehill. I got to meet Mark after the show and talk to him for a few minutes.)

Anyway, I guess one of the reasons I liked Mark Heard's music so much was that I am the kind of person who likes to be challenged mentally. Even St. Paul wrote: "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11. But I feel like too many Christians today in their emphasis on conformity also create an insulated culture that resembles child-like reasoning in areas of science, politics, economics and law. . .even when that means serving mammon rather than God.

Sunday Music: Kevin Max

Kevin Max is another one of the members of DC Talk besides Toby Mac and Michael Tait. (He is also a Mark Heard fan, by the way.) His major solo hit, Existence, got regular airplay on the Christian stations. Here is the video:

Kevin Max -- Existence


A fan of his created a video featuring his song Fade To Red to Lord of the Rings clips.

Kevin Max -- Fade To Red

Sunday Music: I'm Not Who I Was

Brandon Heath is a new Christian artist whose songs are starting to fill the airwaves of contemporary Christian stations. His soft-pop songs have broad appeal among the Christian audiences that listen to such stations. The featured song today is from his first release Don't Get Comfortable. This song could apply to any number of us as we get older. It could certainly apply to me.

Brandon Heath: I'm Not Who I Was

Sunday Music: Wake Me Up When September Ends

This song was originally written as a memorial anthem about lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's father, a jazz musician and minor league baseball catcher, who died of lung cancer when Billie Joe was only ten years old. The song -- as all great songs are -- are written with many interpretations. The song has expanded its meaning beyond the death of Billie Joe's father to represent feelings about the war in Iraq (which is what the video seems to show), as an anthem for Katrina victims and as an ode to those who lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Actually, now that we are in the month of September, I would like to pass along an interesting historical fact that was brought to my attention several years ago: many wars and conflicts start in September. The reason being, I was informed, was that September was the month when crops were starting to ripen and become ready to harvest. Therefore, if one tribe wanted to wipe out a rival tribe -- or simply steal their food -- the time to bring an attack would be September.

So, I think a lot of Americans feel this song speaks to them at this time in our history. They would just assume that September pass by as quickly as possible.

I will probably come back to Green Day's music at a later time, but I think this song needs to stand on its own.

Sunday Music: TobyMac

Back on April 15, I did a Sunday Music for DC Talk. Today's Sunday Music I bring you one of the three members of DC Talk after they all embarked on successful solo careers. Toby McKeehan (aka TobyMac) is probably the most successful of the three, but they have all produced good music on their own. In future installments, I will bring you videos from Kevin Max and Michael Tait.

I couldn't find an official video for the first song Burn for You, so I had to settle for one that used the version that I liked but the sound is not so good because it is a bootleg concert copy -- but that is the sort of thing you get on YouTube.

The song is from the CD Welcome to Diverse City (Diversity. Get it?). I think it is a good thing that a popular Christian artist is spreading the Christian message of inclusiveness and racial harmony in his music and videos because I am discovering that the fight for acceptance of racial equality is not yet over. (I don't want to get too detailed, but racial animosity still permeates certain pockets in this part of the country.)

Burn for You


This is the song that is popular on Christian radio right now.

Made To Love You


The last song shows how he combines social commentary with true compassionate Christianity. While this one is one of his older songs, at least it is the official video, so the quality is excellent.

Irene


From each of the CDs respectively:

Sunday Music: Riding the Storm Out

While there may not be any hurricanes in the Gulf right now, I think there is a coming economic storm about to hit America. I am hoping by working here I will be able to Ride the Storm Out. So here is some music to set the mood.

REO Speedwagon -- Riding the Storm Out

Sunday Music: I Can See Clearly Now

The rain is gone.

Johnny Nash -- I Can See Clearly Now

Sunday Music: Gap Band

Here is another trio of brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma who made it big in their respective music genre. In this case it was Rhythm & Blues music. The Brothers Wilson (Ronnie, Robert and Charlie) formed in 1967 and had a string of party hits.

Party Train


Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Want To Hurt Me)


You Dropped A Bomb On Me

Why Does It Always Have To Rain On Me?

It's raining hard again right now. I had planned to post another song (and entitled this post something else), but it has been removed from YouTube except for a 36 second clip.

So how about:

Travis - Why does it always rain on me?




Maybe I should go to Los Angeles. I hear it never rains in Southern California. So much so that there are lots of fires out there burning everything up!

Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California

Sunday Music: Woody Guthrie

Sorry about the late posting, but I have not been able to sign into Blogger all day. I don't what it is, but it gets like that sometimes.

This week starting Wednesday there will be a Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma, which is Woody Guthrie's birthplace. Okemah is one hour due east of Oklahoma City on I-40. Saturday, July 14 is Woody's birthday. So in honor of his birthday, Arlo Guthrie will be performing at the folk festival (at about 11pm according to the website). Here is a video from YouTube where Arlo, who is Woody Guthrie's son, sings This Land Is Your Land:



And for good measure, here is a link to Arlo's most famous song, Alice's Restaurant, that they play every Thanksgiving here in Oklahoma around noon on one of the rock stations (I think it is 107.7).

I found a video on YouTube where a teacher took video clips from his summer vacation and put them to the song This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie in his original voice. It's a nice application of the song as you see some of America's most famous sites.

This Land Is Your Land


Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 2pm at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the movie The Grapes of Wrath will be shown. Guthrie's song Tom Joad was based on the Steinbeck's novel. A movie based on the life of Woody Guthrie, Bound For Glory, will be shown at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on August 5, 2007 at 2pm.

It's Raining Again

Here is an appropriate song for today in Oklahoma:

Supertramp -- It's Raining Again

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

From Oklahoma City's KOCO TV (Channel 5, ABC)

POSTED: 9:16 am CDT June 26, 2007
UPDATED: 5:11 pm CDT June 28, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Rain fell in Oklahoma City Wednesday for the 16th consecutive day with storms forecast into the weekend, and a flash flood warning blanketing southwestern Oklahoma and areas north of Ponca City.

Make that the 17th consecutive day. It's raining cats and dogs right now.

So, here is a song from a guy born in Hugo, Oklahoma. You might have heard of him. His name is B.J. Thomas. Normally, I would post this on Sunday for my Sunday Music post, but the situation here just seems to make it more apt given the situation outside.

B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Sunday Music: Hanson

In my continuing series of Oklahoma music artists to celebrate Oklahoma's Centennial, this week I bring you Oklahoma's pop sensation from a decade ago.

I saw the brothers Hanson at the Cleveland County fair before they were famous. Back then, their show consisted almost exclusively of old 1950's, 1960's and Elvis Presley songs. I remember I was about to leave when they announced that they were going to sing a song that they had written themselves. I decided to stay and see how good they were doing their own material. It was the song that eventually became their breakthrough smash hit MMM Bop.

They Tulsa trio have continued to make music (even releasing a new CD entitled The Walk just recently) and have had some minor hits since then, but nothing really to rival the success they had as pop idol sensations when they were teenagers.

Here is their big smash hit from their glory days:

MMM Bop

Sunday Music: Flaming Lips

You might get the impression that all of the artists from Oklahoma are Country and Western (many of them are), but certainly not all of them. The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band from Oklahoma City who have achieved Top 40 success.

I got this information from Answers.com:

The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City in 1983, when founder and guitarist Wayne Coyne allegedly stole a collection of musical instruments from an area church hall and enlisted his vocalist brother Mark and bassist Michael Ivins to start a band. Giving themselves the nonsensical name the Flaming Lips (its origin variously attributed to a porn film, an obscure drug reference, or a dream in which a fiery Virgin Mary plants a kiss on Wayne in the backseat of his car), the band made its live debut at a local transvestite club. After progressing through an endless string of drummers, they recruited percussionist Richard English prior to recording their self-titled debut, issued on green vinyl on their own Lovely Sorts of Death label in 1985.

...

With new guitarist Ronald Jones and drummer Steven Drozd, they cut 1993's sublime Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, which they supported by playing the second stage at Lollapalooza and touring the nation in a Ryder truck. Initially, the album stiffed; however, nearly a year after its initial release, the single "She Don't Use Jelly" became a grassroots hit, and against all odds the Flaming Lips found themselves on the Top 40 charts. They took full advantage of their requisite 15 minutes of fame, appearing everywhere from MTV's annual Spring Break broadcast to an arena tour in support of Candlebox to a memorably surreal lip-synched performance on the teen soap opera Beverly Hills 90210, where supporting character Steve Sanders (portrayed by actor Ian Ziering) uttered the immortal words, "You know, I've never been a big fan of alternative music, but these guys rocked the house!"

Here are a few videos of some of their most popular songs I found on YouTube. The first song was their breakout hit.

Do You Realize??


The next song was a hit on Top 40 radio and is a video of their live performance at the Zoo Amphitheatre in Oklahoma City.

She Don't Use Jelly (Live From Oklahoma)


The last song is their song which has received the most views for the band on YouTube. Where they ask: "What would you do with power if you had it?"

The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song


Here is their most recent release at Amazon.com.